Lou from Aztec Dummy did a wonderful job in creating this set of custom vinyl masks for the registry and pennants which arrived yesterday. It occurred to me when I received them that I forgot about creating art for the other geometric symbols on the hull, namely the ones on the bottom of the secondary. Since this is a late-TOS era ship, maybe these symbols are obsolete as they were no longer seen by TMP. Maybe they are Constitution-Class-only markings. What are they anyway? They wouldn't fit at their current scale anyway - unless I resized or did something similar, but different.

I forgot about creating art for the other geometric symbols on the hull, namely the ones on the bottom of the secondary. Since this is a late-TOS era ship, maybe these symbols are obsolete as they were no longer seen by TMP. Maybe they are Constitution-Class-only markings. What are they anyway?

As I recall, those are various hatches for cargo, fuel, and maybe even the warp core. Maybe create your own design for similar, yet different?

I love seeing people painting on their markings instead of decals. Just another way people are stepping up their game.

Lou from Aztec Dummy did a wonderful job in creating this set of custom vinyl masks for the registry and pennants which arrived yesterday. It occurred to me when I received them that I forgot about creating art for the other geometric symbols on the hull, namely the ones on the bottom of the secondary. Since this is a late-TOS era ship, maybe these symbols are obsolete as they were no longer seen by TMP. Maybe they are Constitution-Class-only markings. What are they anyway? They wouldn't fit at their current scale anyway - unless I resized or did something similar, but different.
[...]

I always thought they were docking/reloading/hatch reticles-- visual indicators to a repair or reload crew at a starbase, planning on a quick reload. Ship comes in, stevedores watch the colored square or circle move into place, activate clamps, then load/offload things through hatches on the hull which are known (geometrically) to be in perfect position with corresponding hatches and gangways on the starbase.
Imagine a tour on a starbase, with a ship freshly docked: "That circular marking indicates a hatch through which we offload 25 empty deuterium tanks in 6 minutes flat, and reload full tanks just as quick. And now, over on the left, you'll see the gift shop..."

Me? I'd TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY have markings like that on the base of my model. Same, or at least similar -- even if TMP didn't have them, this ship clearly evokes TOS, and the graphics would underscore that...

I always thought they were docking/reloading/hatch reticles-- visual indicators to a repair or reload crew at a starbase, planning on a quick reload. Ship comes in, stevedores watch the colored square or circle move into place, activate clamps, then load/offload things through hatches on the hull which are known (geometrically) to be in perfect position with corresponding hatches and gangways on the starbase.
Imagine a tour on a starbase, with a ship freshly docked: "That circular marking indicates a hatch through which we offload 25 empty deuterium tanks in 6 minutes flat, and reload full tanks just as quick. And now, over on the left, you'll see the gift shop..."

Me? I'd TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY have markings like that on the base of my model. Same, or at least similar -- even if TMP didn't have them, this ship clearly evokes TOS, and the graphics would underscore that...

I agree! Something will be done. Gift Shop hatches are Priority Number One aboard the Savoy Express.

The Sentinel's main power distribution board was soldered yesterday. This is the first time I've ever done this but it seemed easy enough to try. With a small prototype board and components from Adafruit, the board is built with 2 separate banks controlled by adjustable trim pots. This will allow Cabin and hangar lighting to be dimmable with (16) extra two-pin connectors for direct distribution.

A separate 6v board controls the navigation and strobes.

A new impulse drive system was acquired too. This Starling Tech board was designed for Battlestar engines with strobe effect control up to 20 LEDs.

Two additional boards for Sentinel Avionics bay include the Tenacontrol hangar landing light sequencer and a two-light railroad crossing blinker to power two 1.8mm blue LEDs above the open hangar door.

Now, even if I WERE to attend, y'all better keep them costume wearing types away from me. I don't like you model people. How I ever got hooked up with you geeks, I'll never know. I lived all this time, just to end up spending my days with fucking "Skill Level 3" and "Ages 8 and up". --Eagle-1, the funniest bastard on Earth!

Progress on Sentinel is slow but steady. For each "to-do" on the list, there are about 27 little sub items to do before I can check it off as done. Three solid days of work on her over the weekend yielded a wiring harness for the bridge module and mating the bridge to the spine with a lot of bodywork massaging the seam.

The LED landing light harness was replaced with half as many lights and doubling them 1mm jacketed fiber optics to save premium space under the main hangar deck. I drilled two holes into the top of four 5mm white LEDs to which the fiber was epoxied and covered with shrink tubing. I found that superglue and fiber optics don't play well as the glue makes the fiber extremely brittle.

I had damaged the top white bridge dome part and The Cat came to the rescue with a replacement. Dixie is well pleased .

Joined and primed Bridge/Strongback:

A 3mm blue LED is placed into the spine fin as the upper hangar beacon. Followers of this thread may note the not-so-subtle reference to other 5-0 nods on this craft.

Thanks Lou! I don't think she'll get sexy until those registry masks get used.

Another construction milestone completed, the last of the many brass window ports (on the primary edge and lower dome) were finished yesterday and by coincidence, the laser-cut acrylic inserts for all of them arrived the very day.

These were done by Matt Davis at Laserfire Creations who also produced a brand new base plaque for me. Not that the original one wasn't good but this one is spectacular, I think.

The impulse engine lights were redone from the original plan of using the slow fading rotating beacon circuit from the nav board. Now installed is a Starling Tech BSG engine effect board. This is basically a flicker effect, alternating on two circuits that can power up to 20 LEDs. After some testing, having all 10 LEDs in the drives flicker - even alternating - was enough to cause a seizure. So, I left the red LEDs (3 in each drive) remain solid and used the flicker effect for the two orange LEDs within each housing. This seems just subtle enough. I imagine this as the drives at "idle" and when thrust is commanded at the helm, the flicker would dissipate.